M.E.M. Career Profiles
These profiles are examples of the types of careers M.E.M. graduates can pursue and have been authored by a diverse group of M.E.M./Thayer alumni and members of the M.E.M. Corporate Collaboration Council. It is understood that they represent only a small fraction of the opportunities
Project Manager - Software Development
authored by Amy E. Peterson - Cornell'98, MEM'00
Autodesk, Inc.
Project managers at Autodesk have responsibility for managing multiple high-impact projects from initiation through delivery, including planning, project control and status reporting, and related troubleshooting and problem resolution to ensure completion of assigned projects on schedule. Project managers often help translate the use case for a project for the marketing team into clear goals for the technical team. They make sure every team member is on board and moving in the right direction. Project managers also help technical groups identify areas of broken or missing process, and take positive and measurable action to correct these areas. As a project manager, it is imperative to understand your audience and adapt your style to communicate with every member of a cross-functional team.
Project managers in information technology and software come from a variety of positions: developers, QA testers, or program coordinators. They are the glue that holds the project together and are usually responsible for documenting technical decisions and reporting to management the rationale for schedule or project scope changes.
Plant Manager - Consumer Products
authored by Brett Buatti - D'92, BE/MEM'94
General Mills - Bakeries & Foodservice
Plant managers at General Mills have total responsibility for the safe and efficient operation of one or more manufacturing facilities. They manage all functions within these facilities (operations, logistics, engineering, maintenance, finance, quality and human resources), and are ultimately accountable for managing performance and continuous improvement on all critical success factors, including cost, productivity, quality, human safety, customer service, product safety, and regulatory compliance. Plant managers at General Mills also manage plant business and technical strategy, make decisions on capital spending, and have ultimate accountability for the successful production startup of all new product introductions. They are the key interface with senior corporate managers when it comes to plant strategy or other crucial decisions. Finally, plant managers are responsible for the management, development and safety of all employees—both wage and salaried—at their facilities.
Plant managers typically follow a career track in operations management, but can also come from other functions, such as engineering or quality. In fact, cross-functional experiences are very valuable in preparing to take on a plant manager role. Plant managers must be strong leaders and managers of people, with good technical aptitude and the ability to learn new concepts quickly. They must also have strong analytical and decision-making skills, an ability to think strategically, and the ability to manage multiple priorities among many stakeholders.
Technical Program Manager - Healthcare Technology
authored by Bob Hauck BEME Villanova '72, Ohio State '78 MSc. ME/BioMed
General Electric Co - GE Healthcare
Program Managers at GE healthcare have responsibility for the leadership, management, scheduling and execution of all product development programs. Program Managers typically develop from technical positions. They start their careers as technical engineers in design, test, validation, safety or a variety of other functions. Their area of specialty is typically EE, ME, Systems/Operations, Software or other related specialties. Most have GPAs above 3.7 and many have MSc degrees. The have about 10 years of experience in healthcare or some related industry. They are versatile engineers and managers who must be capable of operating in all phases of a program – from proposal, through design and integration, to production. Program management requires fundamental product and application knowledge, maturity, ambition, experience and leadership in all aspects of a technical development project.
Associate - Venture Capital
authored by Andrew M. Lackner - D'97, MEM'99
Columbia Capital, LLC
Venture Capital (VC) firms are responsible for managing investment funds raised from institutional investors for the purpose of investing in high-growth private companies in exchange for equity. The concentrations of VC and private equity firms vary greatly by market sector focus, such as healthcare, communications, and information technology, and by stage of investment—seed stage, early stage, growth stage, and late stage/buyout.
Early stage venture capital is often wrongly categorized as a "finance" related job. In actuality, the finance concepts and mechanisms used in early-stage venture capital are quite simple. Successful venture capitalists must recognize the impact of emerging technologies on markets, be able to read the effectiveness of management teams, understand and be able to suggest improvements to a company's strategy, have the tenacity to see small companies through difficult times, and know how and when to exit an investment through either acquisition or initial public offering. About 60% of all professionals in VC have an MBA (usually from a top business school), 15% have an MS, 10% have a PhD, and around 5% have an MD.
Most venture capital professionals develop significant business experience before entering the industry. More than 80% have more than three years of experience, and more than 40% have greater than 10 years of experience. Moving into senior roles or partner positions typically requires one to build a unique set of venture capital and/or operating experience within a particular market segment relevant to venture investment, from internet to bio-medical devices. The key for an MEM graduate is to leverage your technical training, understanding of the engineering process, and broader business training to more effectively understand the opportunity presented by a new market or a particular company.
Business Development Manager - Aerospace/Defense
authored by Gregory L. Boison - D'99
Lockheed Martin Electronic Systems Business Area
Business Development at a large company such as Lockheed Martin has the responsibility for increasing company sales by winning new business and maintaining funding for current programs. Business development officers operate in teams that are tasked with winning new business by understanding customer needs and communicating how the corporation can help customers to achieve those needs. Staff will generally support business development efforts through writing proposals, analyzing data, and preparing presentations, most often with a business and financial focus. Business development staff may progress to the role of Capture Management Lead and be responsible for team organization or to the role of Business Development Lead and develop expertise in certain geographical, business, or technical areas. Business Development requires a customer-orientation, strong communication skills, and the ability to balance customer and business needs. It is a job that is generally better suited for an out-going personality. Note that business development staff often move to Lockheed Martin from other roles from within the customer's organization and so have a deep understanding of the customers' needs.
Technical Program Manager - Aerospace
authored by Augustus S. Moore - D'99, MEM'01
Lockheed Martin Advanced Technology Center
Program managers at Lockheed Martin are responsible for the day-to-day operations, resource management, and scheduling of all technical and most budgetary aspects of the company's programs. Program managers come from technical positions, typically moving up from the lead of an engineering discipline, after 10 or more years of experience in the industry. They are versatile engineers and managers who must be capable of operating in all phases of a program—from proposal, through design and integration, to operation. Program management requires experience in all aspects of a project and understanding the resources available to you and your team.
Product Line Manager - Automotive
authored by Duncan MacLean - D'94, ME'96
MacLean Vehicle Systems
Product Line Managers (PLM) at MacLean-Fogg are responsible for managing all commercial, technical and financial aspects of a particular product line. They are responsible for executing the business strategy that is developed by the PLM and General Manager of the business unit. Their performance will be measured on achieving profit expectations for their particular product line; however, they will have no responsibility for the manufacturing costs. They can influence the profitability through price control and design/cost improvements. PLMs are typically engineers with six to nine years of experience including program management, design, manufacturing, and sales. PLMs manage project and application engineers; therefore, project management and overall management skills are critical aspects of the job. The typical path to become a PLM and then move on (with years spent at each position) is:
Design, Application, or Project Engineer (two to four years)
Program Manager (three to five years)
Product Line Manager (two to four years)
General Manager or Business Group Manager
Entrepreneur - Technology
authored by Jason Gracilieri - D'99, MEM'00
Sconex.com
There is no easy definition to sum up an entrepreneur. They get their hands very dirty. They must be confident in tackling problems they have never seen, sometimes in topic areas they know nothing about. They must be quick, resourceful learners, and sharp, critical thinkers. They must be passionate, innovative, resilient, and focused. They must be excited about creating an organization, not just a product or service. They must have faith in themselves and what they're building.
In the early stages of a new venture, entrepreneurs spend their time on every aspect of the business: product development, marketing, sales, finance, legal, technology, and human resources. The most important part of their job is to prioritize efforts and focus the organization toward a product or service that will achieve traction in the market.
Once a product/service has found some validation in the marketplace, the focus turns to growth. On a typical day, an entrepreneur's attention is focused on the aspect of the business that is most critical at that point in time—there is usually four different items of importance, and they normally have time to handle two of them. There is always more work that can be done. They are constantly prioritizing. As the organization continues to grow, they look for talented people to add to the team and take over functions on an as-needed basis, and their time is increasingly spent hiring and managing those people. The ideal entrepreneur knows enough about each discipline to ask tough questions of the managers.
If they are lucky enough to get to this stage (and there is definitely a bit of luck involved), their time is now focused on providing direction to the organization, and focusing on the major operational and strategic issues that it faces.
Entrepreneur - President & CEO
authored by Sean Casten - MEM'98, MS'98
Turbosteam Corporation
I am the owner and President of a 12-employee company specializing in the development, design, assembly, installation and commissioning of on-site combined heat and power plants that generate electricity from existing waste energy flows. Daily responsibilities run the gamut, as is typical for a small business. Personnel management and financial management are daily responsibilities. Directing and weighing in on marketing, sales and development activities, engineering design considerations, and compensation plans are less common but regular responsibilities. Developing and executing corporate strategy is always present, but is a much smaller portion of the work that needs to be done on a day-to-day basis than management books would have you believe. It's also worth noting that in a small company, it's a lot harder and less appropriate for a President to get away from the daily details than in a larger organization where you have more direct reports to whom those tasks can be delegated. I spend a lot of time engaged in various policy and government affairs activities, although that has more to do with the nature of our business and my interests than any universal truth for small company executives.
My general advice to a student who finds the above job description appealing is that they not presume that management is "better" than engineering or somehow more glorious. And don't presume that running a company is easy or somehow more fun than other jobs. Management of a business requires incredible attention to detail and can be quite mundane. It can also be quite rewarding, but the company is generally doing best when you're not visible, since it means that you've got a good team and systems in place. Certainly don't do it for the ego, and keep Harry Truman's advice in mind about how you can get a lot done if you don't care who gets the credit. Moreover, the most effective managers are those who are well-grounded in the technical discipline in which they manage, so get the technical skills first. I've been consistently underwhelmed by people who decided early on that they wanted to be managers, but consistently impressed with people who really dug into the technical side early in their career and then transitioned into a management capacity.